Edison, it is rumoured, said the “Genius is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration”. You don’t have to be a Millennial to want to change the balance in favour of the latter.

We’re all trying to solve problems. That’s what we’re paid the big bucks for! Except very few of us are actually taught how to do this efficiently. We kind of work it out as we go along. Some are better than others, which may help to decide who goes further, or what options or doors become available to us.

As the clock ticks down to May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) looms large in the minds of many company executives. Many of us are discovering that GDPR presents a huge test not just of our company’s resources, but of our flexibility and capacity for strategic thinking.

It’s always a valuable experience meeting with peers facing the same challenges, and hearing how they are approaching GDPR projects. I attended a recent roundtable event run by Northdoor, and it’s obvious that the level of preparedness is variable.

What are you most important assets? Your people, staff, employees, or that awful term, human resources.

What is the biggest threat to your organisation? The same.

The Danger Within

People are important because they are intuitive, innovative, creative, responsive, curious, and at times, unpredictable. It's that mix of abilities and attributes that creates the magic you depend on to provide the value your customers pay you for. It's also that mix of abilities and attributes that leads to the biggest single risk to our businesses.

I’m sure most of you are already using at least some cloud services, either tactically or for a specific client or use case. Or perhaps you’ve migrated to one of the major email services. But what’s your long-term plan? What’s the bigger picture?